Singer-songwriter Mariah Dawne, also known as MARIAH. — with a period—is returning with new music that explores the emotional process of letting go.
Her new single, “Make Room,” featuring Bailey, will be released Friday, Oct. 16, on streaming and download platforms through Breaking Dawne Entertainment/SRG-ILS, distributed by Virgin Music Group/Universal Music Group.
Written by Dawne and Brandon Bailey and produced by Emery Varrie III, “Make Room” finds the Billboard-charting singer taking a more vulnerable approach as she reflects on emotional baggage, healing, and creating space for new experiences.
“This song serves as an ode to the weight we choose to release,” Dawne said. “In order to move forward in a healthy way, we have to face what we carry.”
The singer said the song encourages listeners to examine the emotions, relationships, and experiences they keep holding onto and decide whether those things help or keep them from moving forward.
“Ask yourself: What are you carrying, and why? Is it beneficial, or binding?” Dawne said. “Sometimes, the best way to declutter is to look at the thing, see it for what it is, and determine honestly whether it is worth keeping.”
Dawne also connects the song’s message to the heart’s emotional role, which she describes as a place where people often store everything from love and hope to frustration and painful memories.
“We hold on to so many things in our heart,” she said. “Containing it all forces compartments to develop. It gets hard to move forward when surrounded by the weight of baggage we hold on to from day to day.”
With “Make Room,” Dawne turns those feelings into a message about confronting the past before moving into the future.
“In order to make room for other things and people in your life, first, make room within yourself,” she said.
